Author Websites

Building an audience is one of the keys to a successful writing career. After all, your books won’t sell themselves. Someone needs to promote you and your work. Unless you can hire an expensive marketing or PR firm, chances are that someone will be you.

You can build a readership and promote your writing with an author’s website. Setting up a website can be quite affordable, but building a website that gets results requires hard work and discipline, combining the art of writing with technical skills and marketing savvy. That’s a lot to learn.

I can help — I specialize in building and managing author websites.

I started Writing Forward in September 2007 with little more than a creative writing degree and some HTML skills. In 2009, and again in 2012, Writer’s Digest named it one of the “101 Best Websites for Writers.” Today, Writing Forward receives over 100,000 visits per month, and that number continues to grow. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about running an author website and how to do it successfully. And I can help you do the same.

Author Website Services

All services are tailored to your goals and needs:

Website design and build.

Website maintenance and management, including updating content and making changes to design.

Content development and management for social media, mailing lists, and other online marketing efforts.

Website and blog coaching: learn how to manage your own site and blog to build an audience.

I will work closely with you to make sure that your online presence reflects your authorship and creative vision.

Portfolio

Get an author website that matches your genre, tone, and style.

Author Website Services

Take a look at the online marketing services that I provide for authors:

Author Website Design and Build

I’ll work with you to make sure your website design matches your writing style and genre. Using a practical, user-friendly content management system called WordPress, I’ll build a website that you can manage and update.

Image consistency: a look that aligns with your creative vision as an author.

Reader-focused and user friendly: a website designed with your readers in mind.

Manageable: you’ll be able to change the text and images on your site in minutes.

Affordable: I can work within your budget and deliver a professional site that’s also affordable.

Flexible: if you want to enhance or upgrade your design later, I won’t have to rebuild it from the ground up.

You’ll be able to log in and add, change, or remove content on your website. If you can use a web-based e-mail program, you can manage your own website. It’s that easy!

Website Management

Once your website launches, it needs to be maintained. Regular website maintenance keeps your site healthy and secure. But you should also regularly add content, update the design, run backups, and track your website’s performance. I provide all these tasks and more:

Marketing strategies: I’ll work with you to create marketing campaigns to promote your writing online.

Monetization: Develop profit streams to boost your author income.

Let a pro manage your website, so you can focus on your writing.

Social Media and Online Marketing

Once you publish a book or launch a website, you need to tell the world about it. Social media and other methods of online marketing are effective and affordable ways to get your message out to the reading public. Here’s how I can help:

Design and build social media profiles that are consistent with your style and author brand.

Work with you to create content for social media and other marketing campaigns.

Manage social media accounts with regular updates to promote your work and build a following.

Develop and manage an author mailing list to create a direct connection to your readers.